Maine Mass shooting in Lewiston

[CTListener]

22 confirmed dead so far, suspect ID'd as an Army Reservist firearms instructor, still at large. Listening here in eastern Vermont to coverage on WHOM. The same feed is going out on 97.9 and 102.9 and over the Audacy app. These are all music stations, with no news departments, so the "coverage" consists of disc jockey types watching TV and monitoring AP and internet news sources, then reacting on air. Not exactly Walter Cronkite here, but hey. that's radio in the 2000s. Note that The Bone, Frank and The Wolf are all oblivious to the situation, grinding out music, music, music on autopilot.

 

[radiofan2023]

Note that The Bone, Frank and The Wolf are all oblivious to the situation, grinding out music, music, music on autopilot.

You expect someone to be live overnight on those stations?

 

[TheBigA]

Here's some local radio news coverage as reported by Country Aircheck:

Wednesday's (10/25) mass shooting in Lewiston, ME sent shock waves throughout the state. "It's been a rough few hours," Townsquare WEBB/Augusta PD Cooper Fox tells Country Aircheck. "We have staffers in that area [Augusta is 25 miles northeast of Lewiston], but all are safe. We are continuing to provide updates on the situation. While we never want to see something like this happen, we always feel fortunate that we can be there for our community in times like this."

"Everyone is shaken, but well," says Binnie Dir./Country Programming Chris Clare. "We have a staff member from Lewiston and my girlfriend, who grew up in this area, and I live in the next town south, so there will be personal impact in the coming days. WTHT/Portland went live with coverage minutes after the first calls came in last night. Our city of license is Auburn, which is the twin city to Lewiston, separated only by a river, so this directly impacts an area we have a long history with.

"As of right now, we are monitoring news and keeping listeners informed. Our hope is we can be an informative distraction that is at the ready to relay any breaking news. We suspended contesting for the day, pulled all promos, pulled all questionable music and we’re running recorded promos and liners of support for the State and City of Lewiston."

 

[crainbebo]

You expect someone to be live overnight on those stations?

Sad, but that's the state of radio in 2023. In an emergency situation, I wonder if they could just relay WGME/WCSH/WMTW? Hurricane-alley FMs simulcast each other and often TV stations during hurricane warnings and imminent landfall. This is still a shelter-in-place situation, extremely dangerous and the shooter is on the loose. Several towns around Lewiston are also under shelter-in-place orders as we speak, and schools were closed all the way up to Portland today.
I believe there's been rolling coverage all day (or most of it) on channels 6, 8, and 13 in Portland.

Lewiston Strong

 

[tbolt909]

Over 24 hours after the shootings and the suspect is still on the loose. Maine has a lot of rural territory to hide in. Trying to predict the behaviour of a mentally unstable person is very difficult. He could have already killed himself or is gearing up for another attack. It's likely he has plenty of firepower to inflict more damage. Only in the USA is this possible.

As for local Radio, there's not much useful information they offer while the search continues...

 

[crainbebo]

Or he could have hitched a boat and set sail for New Brunswick or Boston. His car was found near a boat launch, if I remember correctly.

Anyways, you're right, local radio cannot make assumptions about where he is, if he is hiding in Bowdoin, or 300 miles away in the woods, or out to sea.

 

[radioface]

22 confirmed dead so far, suspect ID'd as an Army Reservist firearms instructor, still at large. Listening here in eastern Vermont to coverage on WHOM. The same feed is going out on 97.9 and 102.9 and over the Audacy app. These are all music stations, with no news departments, so the "coverage" consists of disc jockey types watching TV and monitoring AP and internet news sources, then reacting on air. Not exactly Walter Cronkite here, but hey. that's radio in the 2000s. Note that The Bone, Frank and The Wolf are all oblivious to the situation, grinding out music, music, music on autopilot.

You are clearly someone who just has something against Binnie Media. Frank/Bone/Wolf were the first to report it Wednesday night and were live through the next morning.

 

[CTListener]

You are clearly someone who just has something against Binnie Media. Frank/Bone/Wolf were the first to report it Wednesday night and were live through the next morning.

I have nothing against Binnie. TBH, I didn't know those three stations were Binnie. They were among the Portland stations on the Audacy app, and all were playing music around midnight while the other stations were carrying news of the shootings. Perhaps Binnie didn't stream its news coverage and streamed jockless music in its place? If that's the case, sorry for the misunderstanding and any offense, as I assume you have a connection to Binnie.

 

[tbolt909]

CNN is reporting that the suspected shooter has been found dead from a self inflicted gunshot. Not a surprising outcome as it was inevitable. Sadly, these uniquely American mass shootings are on an endless loop. The news cycle will move on and another in ANYTOWN USA will be next...

 

[CTListener]

CNN is reporting that the suspected shooter has been found dead from a self inflicted gunshot. Not a surprising outcome as it was inevitable. Sadly, these uniquely American mass shootings are on an endless loop. The news cycle will move on and another in ANYTOWN USA will be next...

 

[RStacey1990]

So you expected them to stop all their music and just do news coverage?